T-Mobile Sues AT&T, Says Aio Wireless Brand Stole Its Magenta

Well, this is... odd. T-Mobile's newly-installed CEO has been quite the character, going off in press events and calling rival carriers all sorts of crazy names. He's off the walls, and in an industry that's as suited as they come, it's quite refreshing. But, strangely enough, he isn't beyond the lawsuit. T-Mobile, which was all set to merge with AT&T just years ago, is now suing the nation's most popular GSM carrier. AT&T recently launched a prepaid brand under the "Aio" label, and according to T-Mobile, it didn't pay up before using T-Mobile's classic "magenta" color. Yes, it has that hue trademarked.

The suit claims that AT&T chose the color in order to steal away and confuse T-Mobile customers. That sounds patently absurd to us, but then again, the letter of the law may see things differently. The suit also suggests that AT&T launched Aio specifically to combat T-Mobile's "Simple Choice" plans, but again, that sounds absurd; it takes years to develop a plan to launch a new carrier.

T-Mobile said in its complaint: "AT&T's subsidiary's use of magenta to attract T-Mobile customers is likely to dilute T-Mobile's famous magenta color trademark, and to create initial interest [and] confusion as to the source or affiliation of AT&T's subsidiary's business."

Wilder still, Aio's logo actually uses a deeper shade of purple, and does not match T-Mobile's magenta. It's likely that the suit will be tossed out because the colors literally do not match up, but at the very least, it's cute to see two previous lovebirds bickering like crazy now that they're rivals again. Don't you two have more important things to worry about... like network speed, reliability, and coverage area?